Why Am I so Fired Up About Propostion 8?

Are you one of my friends or family members who has been taken aback by my sudden and uncharacteristic political activism? You aren’t alone. A friend asked why, and here was my answer, political incorrectitudes and all. (Well, I censored one name in order not to shame the guilty.)

Dear J—:

It shouldn’t surprise you that this would hit such a nerve in me. This summer I damaged my most important friendship in 2008 in defense of my views on individual marriage freedoms. Anyone who has written their own marriage vows should understand that marriage is an individual commitment and the parameters should never be dictated by anyone else, much less written into a document designed to run a government. (It’s not a fucking opinion poll, it’s the Constitution.)

Discrimination and the imposition of religious beliefs as law are both deeply un-American — exactly what the pilgrims came here to escape, exactly what Jefferson and the founding fathers were trying to prevent, and exactly what we’re fighting against in the middle east. You can never give the Religious Right an inch — they’ll take a mile, every time, and land us in deeply hypocritical territory, every time.

I’m embarrassed. California has a reputation for being progressive, and I’ve always been comfortable being a bit smug and elitist about that. And, well… yeah.

And yes, I’m angry. I’m infuriated that the black community could not see past their historic social conservatism to recognize Prop 8 as the exact same laws they needed to overturn in order to marry who they want. I’m enraged by the sleazy lies the Church propagated in order to gain support for it, and for the interference of out-of-state churches. And for the hypocrisy of the Mormon church. I’m angry at people like my friend J—- S——- who would have voted with me but has a longstanding refusal to vote.

3 Users Responded In This Post

Little infuriates me more than non-voters. Absenting yourself from the process in no way absolves you of the resulting evil. Quite the opposite. If you don’t care enough about your friends and family to at least attempt to influence the situation you’re a piss-poor excuse for a human being. Don’t want to donate money to a cause? Okay. Don’t want to march? Fine. Won’t vote? Fuck you. Sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up, because you’ve forfeited any right to complain about anything beyond a fucking hangnail.

THAT is a real quick way to piss me off, if you hadn’t guessed. I STILL feel guilty about missing a primary in 1998.

Abstaining from voting on an issue which persecutes and discriminates sections of our population is condoning the action. You might as tell a gay couple to their face that you hate them becuase you are too damn lazy to vote on their behalf.
arggh So frickin angry that this issue even made it to the ballot. Where are the stop-gap measures? Should our powers that be look out for the ordinary citizen?